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UK Court Orders the Return of £2.9 Million to Defrauded Investors

On February 12, 2016, Southwark Crown Court ordered Mr. Alex Hope and Mr. Raj Von Badlo to return around £2.9 million to investors who were defrauded by a collective scheme that Mr. Hope established and operated without regulatory authorization to do so. The Court made a confiscation order against Mr. Hope, pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, for an amount of £166,696. Mr. Hope’s co-defendant, Mr. Von Badlo, was also subject to a confiscation order made at a hearing on December 18, 2015, in which he was ordered to pay £99,819. The Orders follow a prosecution by the FCA. The scheme, which was closed down by the FCA in April 2012, had a significant impact on over 100 investors. Mr. Hope had represented himself as a talented and skillful trader, however, he only actually traded around 12% of the total money his investors had given him and spent the majority of his investors’ funds on himself. Mr. Hope was found guilty of fraud for operating an investment scheme without authorization in September 2015. Mr. Badlo pleaded guilty in July last year to recklessly making false representations to investors and promoting a collective investment scheme without authorization. Both individuals were sentenced to seven and two years’ imprisonment respectively in January 2015. Failure by Mr. Hope or Mr. Von Badlo to comply with the Court’s orders could result in their current prison sentences being extended.